ST. ALBERT vs. BONNYVILLE

Well a win is a win and we are now 6 days away from the start of the regular season.

Kirk Belyk, a former Saskatoon Blade, potted a pair last night as the Pontiacs ran away from St. Albert for a 5-0 win. Jordan Kolisniak got his second in two games and veterans Chris Jung and Matt Register added goals in the victory.

I caught up with the coach after the game.

RH: It’s still just preseason but it’s always nice to get that winning feeling back?

CM: Yeah. I think, you know, we dressed a fairly old line up (Friday) I think because we needed to get guys in and get guys going. We’ve watched a lot of video here in the last day or two. We haven’t had a whole lot of practice time and the rewarding thing is that we have seen our compete level take a step and we have seen some things on video and that’s rewarding to take that first step. It’s a first step and we’ve shown glimpses of what this team is capable of doing and a lot of work ahead of us but always nice to get a win.

RH: Going to be able to squeeze in a practice (Saturday)?

CM: Yeah we have to. It would be nice to give them a day off because it’s been a grind but with how little time we have to practice we’ve got to get on the ice and go to work and we get a chance to take the afternoon off and take Monday off in preparation for our game against Grand Prairie.

RH: Kirk Belyk, a couple goals from him, what did you think of his play and who else impressed you?

CM: Well I think for Kirk Thursday night’s game in St. Albert was difficult for him in a sense that he had just got in and we probably didn’t see his best but I think we’ve seen a glimpse now of what this kid is capable of doing. He did that in the Midget AAA league in Saskatchewan a couple years ago but I think overall for the most part we got contributions from everybody. I just liked the way that we came out and competed for most of the game and that’s a big key because we have kind of been stuck in training camp, or I’ve always said summer hockey mode, but this was the first night that we hav finally snapped out of it a little bit.

RH: The win must have been really nice for those guys who had to play on team Black in the Black and White game to finally, finally get a win.

CM: Well to overcome some bad coaching. That helps to. When you got whatever that guys name over at that other place is you know I think he kind of got in there heads a little bit *laughs*.